


Lost in Translation

by EASchechter



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-29
Updated: 2014-04-29
Packaged: 2018-01-21 06:54:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1541657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EASchechter/pseuds/EASchechter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the Tumblr prompt: </p><p>bucky speaks in english most of the time but when he gets truly upset he reverts back to rapid fire russian and he can’t switch back to english until he’s calm again</p><p>instead of feeling shut out and useless, steve starts learning russian</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost in Translation

Steve looked up and smiled as Natasha slipped into the booth across from him.

"Where's the other half?" she asked, gesturing to the waitress. A cup of coffee appeared as if conjured there.

Steve's smile broadened, but there was a brittle edge to it. Unusual.

"Therapy day," he answered. "I just dropped him off. Look, I wanted to ask a favor."

"A favor," Natasha repeated. "What kind of favor?"

Steve put his smartphone on the table and pushed it across to her. "There's a recording on there. Play it."

Natasha arched an eyebrow at him and picked up the phone. She tapped the screen, and both eyebrows raised as the recording started. Recognizably Bucky, but the words were Russian, and...

"I hope you're not expecting me to translate that," she said, putting the phone down. "I'd have to wash your ears out with bleach."

Steve nodded. "I figured it was something like that. Look, he's doing better. Sam says he's making real progress. But... he gets frustrated. Then he gets wound 'round the axle and..." he gestured to the phone. "This happens. He loses his English entirely. It's like he doesn't even understand it anymore. So all I get out of him for hours is something that sounds like an angry, wet cat." He stopped. Frowned. "No offense."

"None taken. We do tend to sound like angry, wet cats when we get going," Natasha answered with a smile. She sipped her coffee and cocked her head to one side. "So what's the favor?"

Steve let out a long breath. "Teach me to speak Russian?"

#

It was six weeks before he felt comfortable enough to even attempt it. He'd learned the basic phrases easily enough -- he'd always been good with languages. But then Natasha had been called out of town for some reason or another, and they hadn't had a chance to reconnect. So he was on his own. He'd picked up a Rosetta Stone program after seeing a commercial on television, but it wasn't the same.

Then Bucky had misjudged something. That was what usually happened -- he'd misjudged the strength of his bionic arm when doing some domestic task, or overreacted to something that wasn't a threat. This time, it was eggs. He'd volunteered to make breakfast, and reached for the eggs with his left hand, breaking four of the six before he even realized his hand was in the bowl.

"It's all right," Steve had said, reaching for the towel, knowing that it wasn't all right. At least, not for Bucky. "We'll get some more eggs. We'll try again."

Angry, wet cat. This time, though, Steve recognized what Bucky was saying.

" _Da chto za chertova hren', nichego normalno ne poluchaetsa--_ "

" _Ne pravda!_ " Steve snapped, cutting Bucky's stream of invective off. " _Tebe prosto nujno vremya. Vse budet v poriadke. My porabotaem nad etim._ "

Bucky stared at him for a moment. Then, to Steve's surprise, he started laughing.

"Oh, come on," Steve protested. "My accent isn't that bad!"

To his delight, Bucky answered in English. "Your accent stinks. When...?" He stopped, and his jaw dropped. "You've been learning Russian. For me."

Steve nodded, oddly self-conscious. "I wanted to help." He looked up to see Bucky smiling at him.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Steve answered. Then he grinned. "You gonna help me with my accent?"

"Anytime."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> What I put into Google Translate:
> 
> Bucky: Goddamn stupid fuck can't do anything right
> 
> Steve: You are not! You just need time. You'll be okay. We'll work on it.
> 
> Thank you to KSiha, who corrected the Russian to be what I wanted, rather than what Google Translate handed me.


End file.
